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Chapter Twenty - Nine

Ryder

I didn’t even bother to climb back onto Cisco as Van’s car drove away from me, With the woman I just gave my heart to behind the wheel.

My horse and I walked the long drive back to the house, finding Savannah and Kenzie waiting with Wyatt on the front porch steps. As soon as she saw me, Van ran toward me and wrapped her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug. I dropped the reins as Colton took them, though I don’t even know where he appeared from. Wyatt’s hand clapped over my shoulder and Kenzie pressed against my back.

I looked up from Van’s shoulder to see all my siblings gathered around me. Each of them offering their support without words. It was in their touch or the way they held themselves. “It didn’t go well then, I guess?” Van whispered. At those soft words, the tight hold I had on my emotions snapped. I gripped her for all I was worth and felt Dolly press in tighter from behind.

“She left.” My eyes burned, and a sob escaped me. “I put it on the line, and she still fucking left me.”

“Oh, Ry.” She squeezed me a little tighter. “I’m sorry. So, goddamned sorry.”

“She’s gone?” Kenzie chimed in softly. “I could have sworn she’d stay. She seemed like she wanted to, so badly yesterday.”

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be,” Wyatt’s gruff voice added, “but it was good to see you smile again.” With another firm squeeze of my shoulder, Wyatt left the group; he was always a man of few words. Colton left too, taking Cisco with him to brush him down.

Eventually, Kenzie let me go too, mumbling about feeding the chickens. Savannah and I stood there together, left to our embrace in the middle of the drive. “I love her,” I whispered, when it seemed the sobs had finally left me.

“You told her you loved her, and she still left?”

“Well not in those exact words, but she knew exactly what I was implying.”

Savannah’s iron grip loosened, and she stepped back a fraction, but only enough to look me in the eye. “You listen to me. Even though you should have told her those three words, you did nothing wrong. She’s her own woman, and that choice was hers alone to make.”

The sound of an approaching car had my stomach flipping and tying itself in knots. Had she turned around? Had she decided to remain here with me instead and give this a proper chance?

But as I turned in place, I noticed it wasn’t Savannah’s Prado coming up the drive. No, it was a flashy, sleek Porsche inching its way toward us. The car stopped mere inches from me, and the driver climbed out, buttoning his suit jacket. Van stepped away completely now, propping a hand on her hip and glaring at the guy. “I’m looking for Ryder Larsen. Can you point me in his direction?”

“I’m him, why?”

He grinned at me and quickly ducked into the car, producing an envelope. He came around the front of the car and handed it to me “These are for you.”

What on earth could this be?

There was a ringing in my ears as I focused on the stark white envelope in my hands. Savannah seemed to be saying something, or yelling more like it, as the guy hopped in his car and sped away.

I ripped it open, curious to find out what was inside. The crisp paper slid out as I tilted it. Reading through all the legal mumbo jumbo, there was one thing that stood out. The words legal representation by Sienna-Grace Anderson of Anderson Oil Co.

She worked for the man who had been trying to purchase land from us. The man who she had mentioned not even an hour ago, right before she left me. I hadn’t even let that wash over me, as there were other, more important things at the time. But now? Hell.

Now here I was with papers. I had been issued more paperwork from the company she worked for back in Louisiana. This time breaking down the offer they were making to purchase land from us. Had she known this was coming and didn’t warn me? Was her idea to have me emotionally unstable when this came through? If that was the case, then mission accomplished. I was the most emotionally unstable I had been in four years.

Without so much as a look at my twin sister, I headed inside, climbed the steps two at a time and slammed the door behind me so hard the whole frame and wall rattled. Tossing the piece of paper on top of the bed, I continued to the window, then leaned on the frame and stared out at the property she’d been here to secure.

But if that was the case, then why hadn’t she tried to get me to sign anything? She was right earlier when she pointed out that she’d never mentioned it to me. Not directly, anyway. Sure, there were suggestions of oil drilling a couple of times, but there was never any pressure or an offer from her to buy the land. She said it was because of me. Because I had happened. Just what on earth did that mean?

If she hadn’t left, I would have thought that maybe it was because she had fallen for me the way I had fallen for her. But it was obvious now that she hadn’t. No, instead it was just some way of getting out of it. Of making herself less culpable for her actions. She certainly hadn’t minded having business conversations with Ethan Sanderson.

Why would she tell him about the real reason she was here and not me? Clearly, there must have been some element of a relationship between them? The thought stung almost as much as her rejection.

A knock at my door had me groaning. “Not now,” I barked out. The sound of the door opening had me gritting my teeth. “What part of not now don’t you understand?”

“I didn’t think you would want me to leave, not when I have something to give you.”

Turning fully, I saw my younger brother now several steps inside my room, a small leather satchel in his hands. The door closed behind him. “What’s that?” I asked, pointing at the bag. “Where did you get it?”

Coming closer, he offered it to me. “I found these the day Sienna got separated from Ducky. I had actually forgotten about it, but when I took Cisco back to the stables, I remembered.”